MAKING MOVES IN THE KITCHEN – THE ONE ROOM CHALLENGE: WEEK 2

Ok guys, I’m back again for week 2 of The One Room Challenge as a Guest Participant while I give our tiny kitchen a much needed face lift over the span of 6 weeks. Last week, I shared my plans for the space along with the official “before” photos in this post.

This week is a big one, not in terms of pretty pictures (none of those this week, folks!) but in terms of breaking down walls, moving HVAC with aircon servicing in Singapore, and solidifying a real plan as to how this kitchen will function. We’re in that period of nitty gritty, big messes, and making it worse before it gets better, if you will. But, boy am I excited to show you what has changed and where we’re headed!

As I mentioned in week 1, our plan to break through the wall from the kitchen into the new dining room came to a screeching halt when we discovered some unexpected ductwork directly in the center of what would be our new doorway. We were initially pretty disappointed, as it really threw a wrench in our plans, but after some brainstorming, we knew that moving it was the only option. In order to make the space really flow and function as I had hoped, we had to make the move.

Once we fully opened the space, we mapped out a plan for where this essential HVAC system would need to move (go to Hicken Air for details), and we decided that the best location would be on the exterior wall, perpendicular to its current location and the current plumbing wall.

It immediately felt better, and I was starting to see my vision come to life, even able to look past the layers upon layers of dust and debris (this is real life rennovation!)

This was the view I was hoping to see all along! The tiny kitchen immediately felt larger, the flow and function of the space made so much more sense, and it felt like it was how it should have always been.

Now that the space was open, it was time to make some final decisions on how we would move forward with the space. All along, I had two options in mind. Option #1 would be adding a small powder bath in the space between the the dining room and the now exposed kitchen, while still leaving the pass through open. The fact that the existing plumbing wall was now completely exposed and tying into that would be the simplest thing to do made a lot of sense to me and a half bath on the first floor of this old home would surely increase the property value. Option #2 was adding a large pantry closet to this tiny kitchen in need of storage! The kitchen didn’t have any existing food storage, meaning prime cabinet real estate was being eaten up (pun intended!) by food storage. My resale brain told me to add the half bath while the other side of me, the one who cooks meals in this kitchen on a daily basis, told me a pantry would solve a whole lot of problems and really improve my daily life.

In the end, we decided that the half bath would be extremely small and still cut into the open space that we worked so hard to create and that the pantry would really improve the day to day function of the kitchen. So pantry it was!

How do you like that super professional interior designer’s sketch of our future pantry? Ha! Sometimes putting pen to paper really is the best way to sort out the details!

Based on the new location of the HVAC system and the dimensions of the space, we came up with a plan and framing began!

We added new supports and began framing in the pantry, and as drywall starting going up, each day, my view got better and better. I can deal with drywall dust if it means progress!

Below, you can see the new location of the HVAC system and how we framed the pantry around that.

While it may not seem like much, by making these moves in the kitchen and planning for some much needed new function, the house feels like a completely different space. The kitchen feels twice the size, I can already tell how much easier it will be to use the kitchen, and I can finally see the light at the end of this very dusty tunnel.

Whew! What a week! Don’t forget to follow along with the other participants and guest participants in The One Room Challenge! I’ll be back next week with week 3’s progress!

That’s definitely a huge wrench in your plans, isn’t it? Totally agree that there’s just a TON of dust in this level of renovation. But it looks like you’re making great progress. I also think you made the right decision. You look like you’ve got the perfect size pantry, but it would be teeny tiny as a half bath. Looking forward to the next update!